126th Morrison Congress

2nd Session

H.R. 126-061

Title of the Bill: Ban Plastic Bag Act

Main Author(s): Rep. Edward Chou (D-FL) and Rep. Liberty Hsiung (D-MD)

Co-Sponsor(s):

BE IT ENACTED BY THE MORRISON CONGRESS

1 SECTION 1: Findings
2 Congress makes the following findings:
3 1) Plastic bags are from the same source as all plastic: crude oil. (1)
4 2) Plastic bags has two major drawbacks: manufacturing it emits
5 considerable amounts of pollution, and the product is not
6 biodegradable. In other words, it is difficult to produce, and nearly
7 impossible to get rid of once produced. (1)
8 3) 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S.
9 each year. (2)
10 4) Every year, tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals, and turtles die
11 from contact with ocean-borne plastic bags. The animals may mistake
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the bags for food, such as jellyfish, or simply become entangled.(3)
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5) Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down, so even when
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an animal dies and decays after ingesting a bag, the plastic re-enters
16 the environment, posing a continuing threat to wildlife. (3)
17 6) While most plastic bags eventually break down into tiny particles,
18 smaller sea creatures may still eat the sand-sized fragments and
19 concentrate toxic chemicals in their bodies.(3)
20 7) No more than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags were recycled across
21 the country in 2005, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
22 Agency. (4)
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24 SECTION 2: Purpose
25 To ban the sales on plastic bags at supermarkets and convenience stores.
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27 SECTION 3: General Provisions
28 United States has been contributing greatly to the pollution of our
29 environment. Whales, birds, seals, and turtles have died from the contact
30 with ocean-borne plastic bags. Still until this day, plastic bags still are in
31 use at convenience stores and supermarkets. The harm done to our
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environment is in fact increasing, not decreasing. Plastic bags are not fast
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to biodegrade. It takes hundreds if not thousand of years in order for a
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plastic bag to biodegrade. Animals are constantly eating the plastic waste
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36 that we throw in the environment. Even after the animal dies from the
37 plastic that it eats, the plastic still has yet to be biodegraded. Plastic waste
38 is piling up real fast and needs to be stopped. The recycling of plastic
39 bags needs to continue, however it has not been very effective so far.
40 Crude oil makes plastic bags, everything else crude oil makes os hard to
41 degrade, if not impossible to degrade. Nothing about using plastic bag is
42 environmental friendly. America alone contributes 380 billion plastic bags
43 to this environment with the recycling rate at about 5%. What is needed
44 now for the environment is to stop using plastic bags and make
45 consumers bring their own bags.
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47 SECTION 4: Definitions
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1. Environmental friendly: Green for the environment
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2. Crude oil: unrefined petroleum
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3. Biodegradable: be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.
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Works Cited:
1) https://www.livestrong.com/article/216666-why-are-plastic-bags-so-bad-for-the-
environment/
2) https://conservingnow.com/plastic-bag-consumption-facts/
3) http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5565
4) https://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080109